DOLPHIN RESEARCH CENTERThirty years of Teaching, Learning, Caring for marine mammals and the environment we share.DRC is a nonprofit marine mammal education and research facility located in the heart of the fabulous Florida Keys. Home to a family of Atlantic bottlenose dolphins and California sea lions, DRC offers a variety of educational, fun, exciting programs, and close-up interactions. We hope you enjoy our blog!

Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Enrichment sessions allow the dolphins to have fun with
trainers without food motivated reinforcement. In these sessions, trainers love
to bring down a variety of different objects to entertain the dolphins. The
dolphins adore being introduced to random items.

Since it’s the holiday season, a lot of the objects that
have been brought down to the dock are Christmas oriented; including, a
miniature Santa Claus.

On a beautiful December day, one of the trainers brought a
little holiday spirit down to play with the dolphins in the front lagoon. Out
of the eight dolphins who currently reside there, seven of them are under the
age of six. Imagine what would happen if you let seven excited little kids loose
on Santa Claus.

Each of the youngsters took the opportunity to inspect Old
Saint Nick in their own way. Tursi kept Gambit away and Luna and Cayo admired
him from afar. Gypsi, Flagler, Delta and Louie couldn’t wait to get their
flippers on Santa! Every time it was placed on the dock, one of them tried to
knock him over. They even took turns beaching next to him, which four out of
five times resulted in Santa soaked in sea water.

As guests and staff members howled in laughter at the kids’
enthusiasm for the man dressed in red, the little girls and guys continued to go
crazy with the toy. It became so hectic that Santa had to have a time out,
while he put himself back together. The dolphins waited as patiently as they
could while Santa was away, but once he was back on the dock it was time to
play again.

It’s always a blast to see how the dolphins react to
different things that they’re introduced to. Not only do they have a fun time
investigating new toys, but we enjoy every minute we watch.